Jasmine Hall COC’s track star

Jasmine Hall, one of COC’s fastest sprinters, does something out of the ordinary when she leaves her four year ride to come back to a community college.

Hall, who just placed second in the Junior College State track meet last Thursday has a bit of a twist to her story, “I started school at Arizona State University, and ended up at COC two years later.”

And although none of this was planned, it has all surprisingly ended up very well for the 24-year-old, Hall.

“It’s was honestly all a bury,” Hall says, “one minute I was on top of the world at Arizona State, and the next minute I was injury and at COC.”

After holding many records at her high school, Hall was given a full ride to ASU. “Arizona was the school I always wanted to go to, so when I was asked to go there, you could only image how excited I was” says Hall.

Hall was 18 when she graduated at Valencia High School. And although they didn’t have that great of a track team, she made the best of what she had.

“She was always so dedicated when it came to track and school, therefore I had no worries at all that she’d have any problems during college,” Hall’s mom, Deena says, “but when she got injured, it took a toll on her.”

About a season and a half into being at ASU, Hall started to feel pains in both of her shins. And by overlooking in for a few more weeks, it only got worse. “I remember feeling it for the first time, and just thinking I needed to ice them,” Hall says, “if only I’d known a bit better, I would have done things very differently.”

After months of trying everything to get better, Hall’s journey at ASU was cut short. “She called me one night, crying hysterical,” Deena says, “I remember her repeatedly telling me “it’s over mom”, I had no clue what to do at that point.”

With running being put on hold, and her full ride taken away because of that… Hall was forced to move back to Santa Clarita.

“I’ve always been a team player, someone who could make the best out of whatever is being thrown my way, but I couldn’t with this. It was all too much for me,” said Hall “I came back to Santa Clarita, and enrolled in classes at COC.”

After months and months of treatment for Hall’s shins, she was finally healthy again. But she was not ready to start training again.
It took Hall almost a year and a half just to start running again, and when she did, she fell in love all over again.

“Jasmine and I had conversations before she had went off into her full ride at ASU,” says Coach Kane, COC’s head track coach, “when I heard what happen to her during her time out there, my heart went out to her. She is one of the best runners I have ever coached, and although it’s a disappointment what happen, she made the best of what she had.

This spring was Hall’s last season as a COC track runner, and during that time she has made so many records. She even won the CCCAA SoCal Championships in the high jump, jumping a 5’9.

“That’s the things about Jasmine, she’s an all-around track star. She does the field events, the running events, and even the relays. She was a big part of the team,” Kane says.

Hall says she came into this season with an open mind, and knowledge of how to keep herself healthy. “I had nothing be good vibes going into this season, and by the e
d of it I was placed second in all of state, with many other metals throughout the season,” said Hall.

Even after doing everything backwards, Hall still says she’s gotten the full college fill. And looking back on it all, though leaving her dream school, she wouldn’t change any of it. “I see it like this,” Hall says, “everything happens for a reason, and for whatever reason i ended up here, and COC, and I’m okay with it. It may have taken me a few months to get to this point, but I’m okay with it.”

Hall has finished all four-years of her running at a college level, but that isn’t going to stop her from what she wants further on from here. She says she will run unattached and see where that leads her.

She also plans to tr
ansfer off to a Cal State school sometime this year to finish off what she has left. “I’m so excited for what’s to come, and honestly to be able to run on my own will be fun and new as well. I can’t wait,” she says.

“Jasmine has so much going for her, and just because she ended at a CC college, and not a four-year like others, isn’t going to stop her from where she wants to go from there. I honestly believe she has it in her to run big! Big like in the 2020 Olympic. You just wait and see,” says Kane.

Jasmine Hall, even though she did it backwards, it still all ended up right